Reducing our Impact

There has been a great deal of publicity about the state of Planet Earth recently, including the Extinction Rebellion protests, the publication of the reports of the UK government Climate Change Committee and the UN Biodiversity Commission.

The Climate Change Committee points to the change in the way electricity is generated in the UK in recent years. Now about half our electricity generation is “low carbon”, including nuclear, which is a big change from the time when most of our electricity stations were coal powered.

As Christians we see that everything on Earth, indeed the whole universe, was made by God and belongs to God. We are on earth as His tenants. Recently we celebrated Jesus’ Resurrection Day, the anniversary of the day that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, reconciled, not only us humans, but also the whole of creation to himself. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in his Son, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” Colossians 1 v 19-20.

Global warming may not affect us here in Bicester very much: bumper production of outdoor tomatoes like last summer, but it is of much greater importance to people whose crops wither in the drought or whose land is submerged by the rising sealevel. That is why a group of us have started to meet to think about the impact of our lives creating climate change and causing injustice to our brothers and sisters elsewhere on the globe, along with the effects of pollution and other environmental degradation. The UK Climate Change Committee would like us here in Britain to, on average: fly less, walk more, buy fewer new clothes, eat less red meat and plant more trees. We can start by taking little steps, eg growing vegetables in our gardens, and work through a succession of small changes, until we begin to see a significant difference in our attitude and life-style. In showing we care for the planet, for animals, for ecosystems, and for people, we both witness to Christ our Redeemer and co-operate with him in reconciling the whole of creation from the impact of our self-centredness.

To encourage local vegetable production, we have the Plant Swap next Friday, 10.30- 12noon outside the café, and the next Climate Justice Workshops are 7.45pm Mondays 3 June and 1 July.